The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

The next day, we met up again. We sat together in the conference room in Triskelion, waiting only for Stella. The Palace of Laws was a more suitable place for holding such meetings than the Palace. The moods around the table were considerably better than yesterday when they thought all their research was in vain. My Queens, who were involved in the project, as well as Cahrona, had needed more time to mull over my arguments, and they were now convinced about what they were doing. Cahrona was discussing something with Lavender when suddenly, a soft bell rang, and Stella teleported to the room, holding various scrolls, books, and a small, porcelain bell.

"I'm sorry for being late, Your Majesties." She bowed towards me once she put everything on the table. "Princess Cahrona."

"It's all right, Stella." I waved my hand dismissively and eyed the pile she created. "What is that, exactly?"

"These are the notes we took during testing." She smiled brightly.

"That is quite a terrifying amount..." I started, but then I shook my head and corrected myself. "Excellent work, everyone. I see you were able to learn teleportation, Stella."

"Of course, my Lord." She smiled proudly. "If there was a fault in that spell and it was rigged to teleport the caster to some predefined location, they were going to receive a furious Faé instead of an unsuspecting Succubus."

"I assume there was none..."

"Yes. The spell is flawless," Stella replied.

"That's a very bold statement." I sighed.

"After a whole day of very poor results, Queen Irene and Queen Luna lost their patience," Stella explained, looking at the two who played innocent. "Once the rest of us went to sleep, two of them were still working. We found them sleeping the next day, leaning on the laboratory table, surrounded by piles of notes, books, and some graphs."

"Okay... What have you two done?" I asked them, scratching the back of my head.

"At first, I used all of my Sage skills to analyse the spell. I gained a lot of precious insights but nothing that would push our research forward," Luna answered with a slight shrug.

"Then I really ran out of patience, and I used a Miracle." Irene took a sip of her coffee latte. "I asked for a perfect understanding of the teleportation spell provided by Farun for Luna."

"Why Luna?" I asked, confused.

"She already had used her Sage skills, so it would work better, in my opinion," the Saintess explained.

"As you can imagine, it was a success, well, sort of," Luna concluded. "I know a few tricks on how to lower the teleportation cost, but it won't be anything near what Imps are capable of. Still, I firmly believe that we have all the theories right."

"We believe the same," Amber said, followed by nods from Hestia and Lavender. "I must admit that Luna and Irene have done all the work. We were simply checking the results... However, Irene's short temper made me realise that we probably have the ultimate means of identifying, researching, and developing spells or practically anything else, for that matter."

"That's true, but I don't want to overuse Miracles for such trivial things... I feel a bit guilty about that."

"I see..." I nodded. "I believe that in special cases, using that method is justified. After all, teleportation poses an existential threat to the entire kingdom, so full understanding of it is the only way to mitigate such threats."

"*sigh* Yes, Theon," Irene agreed after considering my argument. "I can't deny the effectiveness of that method. As the Queen of Arcadia, I will use my power to ensure the safety of our people, Theon."

"It goes without saying, I will do it as well." Luna smiled. "But back to the topic. We have teleportation basically figured out, and Stella has some ideas on how to implement it..."

"Before we move any further, I want to fully classify teleportation and all magitech originating from it as top-secret military-grade tech." I raised my hand. "I wouldn't mind if it turns out that only ships of the Navy could use teleportation. Even then, there is still a possibility that we can lose this magitech to our enemies."

"I see, my Lord. We shouldn't make the devices too portable to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands." Stella nodded eagerly. "It would also render the mana consumption problem invalid. The mana reactors installed in Dauntless would need anywhere between thirty seconds to ten minutes to gather the mana required to transport the battleship anywhere within Arcadian borders. The jump can be instantaneous if we retrofit the unused fuel storage cargo hold to mana storage."

"Excellent." I nodded. "I want the full report about our capabilities before we start any upgrades." They simply nodded in response. "All right, what else?"

"We all learnt the teleportation," Amber said, and all my Queens raised their hands to confirm it.

"What about you, Princess Cahrona?"

"While Queen Hestia advised me to learn it, I decided otherwise. The safety concerns you mentioned earlier, my Lord..."

"Hahaha... Sorry. I think it's too late for that. You are one of the few people who probably knows the spell completely. You should learn it and use it if you would ever find yourself in danger."

"I... Yes, my Lord."

"I agree with Theon." Luna nodded towards Cahrona. "Cahrona, for your safety and the safety of Arcadia, you should learn that spell."

"If both of you insist, your Majesties, I will." Cahrona bowed her head slightly and softly smiled. "Thank you..."

"Theon." Luna cradled her face in her hands, leaning slightly over the table and resting her elbows on the table. "Do you remember what you asked me a few months ago? When I was down and depressed about my role?"

"Ummmm..." I rubbed my chin.

"Retrieving the records of the previous Kitsunes from the Holy Grove." Luna smiled wryly. "It's now possible."

I took a deep, abrupt breath. On the other side of the continent of Aderon, southwest of The Great Northern Wilderness, lay an island shrouded in fog. According to Luna, there was an ancient sanctuary where all Kitsunes waited for the Heroes who were supposed to wake up in Aderon. I rubbed my eyelids nervously. I really had said it, but in reality, I never anticipated that would be even possible. Even Dauntless, our fastest ship, would need almost an entire week to get there at full speed of thirty-three knots. But now? She could simply teleport there.

"I see..." I replied with a wooden voice, provoking a wave of laughter from my wives.

"Don't worry. It took me some time to realise that you never truly intended me to go there. I appreciate that you put in so much effort to improve my mood back then." She twitched her ears in amusement while wagging her tails. "However, those records contain a long-lost knowledge which may prove useful for Arcadia. For that reason alone, I won't abandon the idea of getting them."

"All right. But you won't go alone. Once things settle down and we equip HMS Dauntless with the teleportation capabilities, we will assemble a proper salvage mission. With a battleship, maybe the full battle group protecting your expedition and serving as your base for the duration of the mission, I will be calmer..." I nodded.

"I think it's reasonable." Luna agreed without any argument. "Now, when I know about the dangers lurking in the ancient forest, I wouldn't dare to go anywhere near it without an entire Legion. Dauntless is an even better choice."

"I'm glad to hear that." I was relieved. "Stella? You have been flipping pages in your notebook for a while now. Is there anything you want to add?"

"I was already thinking of a way to create a teleportation device for Dauntless and the other ships of the Royal Navy. I think we will have to disclose the details to Ian. Without his knowledge about the interface magitech, we would be reinventing the wheel."

"All right. Ian has the highest clearance anyway, so I don't have any objections." I nodded approvingly. "Taking advantage of the opportunity that everyone is already gathered, I wanted to discuss a few more things. For example, I wanted to put the road construction program on hold..."

•••

"We are over Iceleon now, Ma'am..." The first officer informed the admiral, albeit with noticeable disapproval in her voice.

"Excellent." Janet opened another holographic display with the data about Iceleon. Feeling her officers' burning gaze, she looked at them. "What?"

"Ma'am... This is a violation of the neutral country's airspace."

"They can sue me." The Elf shrugged. "Besides, this is a very vague interpretation of the border. The mountain range between Arcadia and Iceleon is not only wide but also untamed. Iceleon has no real control over the mountains. Even we can only patrol them. So, in my opinion, they are the perfect example of no-man's-land. If we simply sneak over, no one should notice us. Don't you think, Lieutenant?"

"Aye, Ma'am..." she admitted grimly, but it was obvious she wasn't anywhere near to agreeing with her.

"Contact, Ma'am!" the sensor officer raised her voice. "We have a large pack of monsters right on our course. T plus ten minutes. The radar image indicates they are besieging a small city... It seems they won't threaten us in any way."

"I hate it..." Janet leaned back in her command throne. "You know what? Fuck it. Red alert, all hands on deck!"

"Ma'am?!" The first officer looked at the admiral in shock. "Sneaking was one thing, but active involvement?"

"Captain!" Janet slowly rose from her throne. "Are you going to leave those people to their own devices, knowing that we could save them?"

"I..." The first officer lowered her head. "No, I don't want to do it. But it's my duty to inform you about the possible repercussions..."

"Your objection is noted..." The Admiral sighed as she sat down on her throne once more. "... And duly ignored."

"Yes, Ma'am. The ship is ready to battle," the first officer informed after checking the status screen. "All green."

"We have the main horde in range of our front sixteens, Admiral," the tactical officer calmly noted.

"Besides... Who told you that they can see us?" Janet smiled and looked towards the ceiling, where a woman wearing a white toga was lying and napping on the fluffy cloud. "Can I count on you, Nephele?"

"Naturally," she replied lazily, masking a yawn with her slender hand before vanishing like a fog...

"Tactical. A single shot from all six guns in range." Janet sat more comfortably and looked at the screen, which showed the living river of monsters. She was going to enjoy the show.

•••

"The relief forces are coming! We must hold!" the older man yelled, leaning heavily over his staff. He was almost out of his mana.

"You said that an hour ago!" someone replied with tired laughter.

"They are coming!" the man said with conviction.

"You said that two hours ago as well, Captain!" someone else replied, amused, and soon after, he fired a fireball toward the horde.

The people were fighting for their lives. They had already lost the farms outside the city limits, so the situation was serious. The fortified city of Utap has been standing in these mountains for centuries. It was very important, thanks to one of the few iron mines outside the Dungeons. While it was one of the most important cities of the Kingdom, its location couldn’t have been more problematic. The city simply couldn't support the large population, and what was worse was that there was just a single road leading to the city. The ancient road carved directly into the slopes of steep mountains surrounding the narrow valley where the city was. The city and the road had been built by the ancient Dwarven masters who erected several gates on the narrow road. However, the ancient Dwarves were gone, and the people who remained in the city could only hold the gate closest to the city in case of a major monster assault. The defenders were running out of time...

"Fog! Fog is descending!" the panicked voices of the defenders started repeating the warning.

"Gods, help us!" someone yelled.

"Help is coming! Don't lose your faith!" The Captain yelled, but everyone saw how tired and bitter he was.

"Help us, Goddess Hestia!" A young priestess dropped to her knees, almost out of her mana.

Suddenly, the darkness of the early night was torn asunder. An ear-piercing roaring thunder became one with a terrifying explosion that shook the entire city. The defenders stood in awed silence, staring at the giant hole in the place where the road to the city once was. Nearly twenty metres of the road was missing, making entering impossible. The exhausted defenders started yelling in relief. They were cut off, but they were alive. Those few monsters who survived the explosion were swiftly cut down by the soldiers and adventurers.

"Sooo... Natalie." The Captain sat heavily near the dumbstruck priestess and started laughing nervously. "Hestia, you say?"